Canote E-Notes 09/21/11

Greetings!
I'm writing with 2 very specific prayer requests regarding the ministry work God has called us to as a family. It relates to the financial support necessary to make it all happen.

Our situation at YUGO is unique among our missionary co-workers because we live in the U.S. We have the option of generating additional income to meet our household and ministry expenses without the limitations of foreign visas.

We have done that over the years through multiple "side" jobs and through Susan’s job working from home which officially makes us “tent makers”. It also means we have not given the necessary attention to building and maintaining our ministry support team.

The result is our reserve account which is used to fund my monthly salary through YUGO, my health insurance, and ministry expenses is dangerously low. We must replenish the account at YUGO or face being reclassified as part-time and losing my only option for health insurance.

We know 2 things in our hearts for certain: #1, God has called us to this ministry in this time and place. He has provided ample tangible evidence in our lives to support that belief. #2, God has promised to meet all our needs. And, our God is still faithful.

We know God will meet this need in His perfect timing as He has promised to do. Please join us in praising Him for that.

If you have not felt led to support this ministry financially up to this point, would you also please ask God specifically if He would have you begin supporting at this time?

To our ministry team: thank you, Thank You, and THANK YOU!
We love you and we need you. Your support as co-laborers in this ministry is critical and we praise God for you every day! Thank you! We are eternally grateful for your partnership with our family!


Telling the Story,

Pastor Chris Canote
Outreach & Mobilization Director
YUGO Ministries
www.yugo.org
www.thecanotefamily.com
http://twitter.com/canotechris

573/874-1878 Home
573/808-1195 Cell

The Canote E-Notes - 10/16/10

:) Happy Saturday! :)
Here's a quick update from the Canote Family Circus...
We wrapped up a series of revival services on Sunday at the Armstrong Baptist Church in Armstrong, MO. The Lord laid a series of messages on my heart ramping up to Sunday morning, challenging the church towards renewal and a refocus on the basics of a fruitful and rewarding church family life with an emphasis on making an impact in their community and ultimately the world. We were able to share about YUGO's work in Mexico during each service and already have at least one committed to working towards joining us on the field in Acuna. The boys led worship for the youth group and the evening worship service on Thursday night with their contemporary worship style. The rest of the time we played gospel bluegrass doing an extended worship/performance on Sunday morning. The Canote family was VERY blessed for the experience! God is good!

Today, we are heading down to southeastern Missouri to the Gladden Baptist Church about 15 miles outside Salem, MO to share some Canote Family Gospel Bluegrass. This is one of those very rare occasions where we actually have every member of our family along with their spouses....ROAD TRIP! We are so blessed to be able to serve God in this way. Of course, we'll be sharing about Mexico and looking for who in the audience with which we can begin the stalking process of luring them down to Mexico with us!

If you're receiving this email, you're part of our support network and ministry team. Your presence in our lives, financial support, prayers, friendship, etc. all provide encouragement for us to keep heading out into the darkness to rescue lost souls. Thank you for that and God bless YOU!

Telling the Story,

Chris Canote
Outreach Director/Mobilizer
YUGO Ministries

Interim Pastor
Harrisburg Baptist Church
http://www.yugo.org
http://www.thecanotefamily.com
http://twitter.com/canotechris
http://twitter.com/YUGOMinistries

chris@thecanotefamily.com
573/874-1878 Home
573/808-1195 Cell

Canote E-Notes 10/01/10

Happy Friday!
It's hard to believe another week has flown by and here's another Friday. Just a quick update on the Canote family here.

Susan and I are still riding the "spiritual high" of an amazing prayer meeting at church that happened on Tuesday night of this week. Sometimes you have an experience with other people where the presence of God's Holy Spirit is so overwhelming, it's difficult to describe. This was one of those times. We're so excited to see how God is working in and through church family, drawing us together, tearing down walls, and getting us ramped for.... well, we're not sure. The truth is, we don't need to know. We just know that God is moving in a mighty way in our church home and that's a good thing. God is good...all the time!

We are moving forward on beginning to implement some of the ideas I picked up during my visit with OM. We are currently pulling together all of the information for every church and individual who has worked with YUGO in some capacity of the last 10 years. The plan is to harness and maximize the relationships which already exist. I will begin the process of re-contacting these people to talk about the possibility of them joining us on the field in Mexico in the near future.

We have a couple of gospel bluegrass performances coming up in the next couple of weeks. I will also be preaching for revival services at Armstrong Baptist Church next week. Anytime we have an opportunity to be in front of a crowd, we always take time to share about how God us working in and through our missionaries "on the ground" in Mexico.

Have a GREAT weekend! Thank you for your support and prayers!


Telling the Story,

Chris Canote
Outreach Director/Mobilizer
YUGO Ministries

Interim Pastor
Harrisburg Baptist Church
http://www.yugo.org
http://www.thecanotefamily.com
http://twitter.com/canotechris
http://twitter.com/YUGOMinistries

573/874-1878 Home
573/808-1195 Cell

Canote E-Notes 09/28/10

Greetings & Salutations!
It's been an exciting last few weeks around the Canote house! We have had a lot going on at church, plenty of school related activity - including elementary, jr. high, high school, AND college!, along with our usual adventures in missions with Mexico and YUGO. You know...the usual Canote Family Circus!

I just returned from spending a couple of days in Atlanta, GA touring the Operation Mobilization (OM) USA headquarters and spending time with their leadership team. One of our board members at YUGO, Bill Drake, is also an OM missionary himself. He and his lovely bride, Teri, hosted me along with another YUGO board member, Ray Schwartz. OM has missionaries serving world-wide in over 100 countries and on multiple mission cruise ships which travel port to port taking the Good News of Jesus to the world. We went to learn and learn we did! It was an exciting trip. I came away refreshed and with a renewed vision for the future of YUGO Ministries and how God can and will work in and through the Canote family to accomplish His big ole plan! And I'm very excited about putting some new ideas to work ASAP!

I am currently coordinating the logistics for directing and speaking for the Mexicali, Mexico New Year's Outreach. The boys and I have been a part of this outreach now for several years. They will be joining me to lead worship, set-up, tear-down, etc. We have a team of 40 high school students and 15 college students coming to minister with us from Michigan this year - so far.

Thank you so much for your friendship, prayers, and financial support! You have an important role on our ministry team just by your presence in our lives. And it's awesome to see how God uses each of you to accomplish His will.

God Bless YOU!



Telling the Story,

Chris Canote
Outreach Director/Mobilizer
YUGO Ministries

Interim Pastor
Harrisburg Baptist Church
http://www.yugo.org
http://www.thecanotefamily.com
http://twitter.com/canotechris
http://twitter.com/YUGOMinistries

573/874-1878 Home
573/808-1195 Cell

Canote E-Notes - 07/01/10

Greetings!
Just wanted share a couple of updates...

The media and the U.S. State Department have been very effective in their campaign to promote their agenda regarding the "violence" in Mexico. We certainly cannot blame anyone one bit for fear and concerns about sending a bunch of teenagers and families into what amounts to a lot of "unknowns". Unfortunately, however, we have had to cancel the outreaches in Acuña for this summer. We started out the year with several interested teams. Some who had come in years past and a couple of new ones. We did still have one team who wanted to come regardless. Located in Dallas, TX, they are much closer to the border and have connections in Acuña so they weren't concerned about safety for their team. They know it is as safe in Acuna as it is in most any city in the U.S. The violence in Mexico is limited to a short list of specific areas of Mexico which does not include Acuna. Fortunately, the Dallas team understands our situation. We wouldn't be good stewards of our ministry resources setting up a mobile outreach for just the one team. Much of the expense of the outreach is the same regardless of how many come.

I changed my plans and will be going to Tijuana, Mexico, July 11-17 to preach in the daily chapel services for a YUGO outreach at our Tijuana Outreach Center. The boys and I will also be returning to Mexicali over the Christmas break as we have for the last several years.

We are heartbroken that we won't be able to minister together as a family this summer in Mexico. However, we also know that God's plans are always the best - whether we understand them at the time or not and He IS still in charge. This is actually His ministry and we know we don't have the the authority or right to question His ministry plans.

I am also preaching for the youth week at our home-church church camp each night July 5-8. I am very excited about these ministry opportunities to reach out and have an impact in the lives of youth! God is good and faithful and bringing messages to my heart deliver. Please keep me in your prayers as I prepare to spend a lot of time in the pulpit over the next couple of weeks.

Here is a link for a blog article I ran across this morning about the long-term benefits of short-term missions. It's a short read, take a look when you get a couple minutes:

http://nathanshoultz.wol.org/blog/shoultz/shortTerm

¡Que Dios te acompañe por siempre!
God be with you forever!

Chris Canote
Outreach Director/Mobilizer
YUGO Ministries

Interim Pastor
Harrisburg Baptist Church
http://www.yugo.org
http://www.thecanotefamily.com
http://twitter.com/canotechris
http://twitter.com/YUGOMinistries

573/874-1878 Home
573/808-1195 Cell

Canote E-Notes 06/14/10

Dear Friends & Family,
Greetings in the matchless name of Jesus Christ our Savior!

For starters, no you didn't get bumped off the "Canote E-Notes" list. I just haven't sent one in quite some time. We have maintained the monthly prayer letters but have fallen short on our commitment to keep you informed and updated regarding our ministry on a more frequent basis. Your friendship, support, and prayers are priceless and we are so very thankful, honored, and blessed to consider you part of our ministry support team. God bless you! Your reward is stored up in heaven pending your arrival. Praise the Lord!

If life in full-time ministry is anything, it is certainly never boring. God continues to stretch us and use us according to His perfect will. It's always amazing to see how God works things out; His plans and timing are ALWAYS the best. It's awesome to look back and see how He has moved things into place over time to accomplish His ministry - often in ways we never even considered. Praise the Lord!

We are trusting Him and His plans with a new ministry opportunity. On Sunday, June 6, I was elected the Interim Pastor of our home church, Harrisburg Baptist Church. Aside from a strong leading from the Lord to make myself available, the vote was unanimous, providing additional confirmation God was right in the middle of the plan. It is a bi-vocational position making it a perfect match for the ministry work I do with YUGO Ministries. I am very excited about serving in this new role and about the vision for ministry I believe God has given me for our home church.

Aside from making multiple trips per year to serve alongside our YUGO missionaries who live in Mexico, my primary role with YUGO is to serve as a mission mobilizer. My work includes developing relationships with churches and ministry leaders. The goal is that YUGO Ministries and our missionaries living in Mexico can help these churches maximize their ministry resources and efforts to most efficiently impact the world for Jesus. The result is that the people of Mexico come to a saving knowledge of Jesus. I also built and maintain the YUGO website www.yugo.org along with assisting with various other marketing efforts for YUGO. None of that has changed. I will continue to work in that capacity. If anything, this new ministry plan for our family has given me a renewed vision and refreshed outlook on God's plans for working in and through us for His Glory.

Thank you for your prayers!

God Bless You!

Chris Canote
Outreach Director/Mobilizer
YUGO Ministries

Interim Pastor
Harrisburg Baptist Church
www.yugo.org
www.thecanotefamily.com
http://twitter.com/canotechris
http://twitter.com/YUGOMinistries

573/874-1878 Home
573/808-1195 Cell

Canote E-Notes 12/28/09

Buenas Tardes y Dios le bendiga!
Good afternoon and God Bless You!

Adam, Chewy, Alex and I are hard at it this week serving on the mission field of Mexicali, Mexico. We're serving on a YUGO evangelistic outreach based at our bible institute in Tamaulipas. We have made this annual trek to Mexicali for a few years now. We are joined every year by an amazing team from Cornerstone UMC in Caledonia, Michigan. We also have several other volunteer and YUGO missionary staff serving here with us. The weather here is considerably better than what we left at home. It's been around 60 degrees F during the day and dropping down to around 40 at night. That's just about as cold as we can handle without using a heater.

Everyone is so encouraging and very excited about being here. We've been faced with and dealing with all the usual obstacles we've grown accustomed to over the years. We all have a sense of the spiritual battles taking place around us. The Mexican people are hungry for something and very receptive to the gospel message. Though satan may not want us here, God has not changed. He was hard at work here before our arrival. He is with us and His spirit resides within us.

We're so thankful for and counting on your prayers getting us through...keep 'em coming our way please. We're not even bothering to ask God to give us perfect health and no obstacles this week. That's kinda silly. Please just pray for us that we will be in full surrender this week, trusting God and His plan. Also, please be in prayer for the Mexican people who our team will be ministering to this week. Some will hear and receive the Gospel for the first time. Others will be encouraged in their personal walk and ministry in their lives.

Adam and the boys are doing a great job with worship. They lead us this morning in a song I've never heard and never heard them even practice and they rocked it! God is good. Adam is concerned about his voice and allergies as it is VERY dry here and he is already getting a rasp to his voice. This morning, just before chapel he could hardly breathe. Just as he started to lead us, he immediately cleared up and stayed that way for the entire service. God is good!

I wrestled a bit with God about delivering the message He put in my heart for this morning's chapel service. I didn't want to offend or to be too direct but, God had His way. The challenge was about God's call for surrender in our lives. I reminded the team and staff that God is not "impressed with us" for taking time to serve in Mexico. He wants our surrender in all things, here and at home. He loves us and wants us but doesn't "need" us. Afterwards, several from the team and their leaders came to personally thank me for the message and how it would impact their team and their ministry today at their site.

What a blessing and a great honor! As I type this message, I realize the irony in the blessing for me from surrendering to deliver His message and challenge about the blessings of surrender...

God is still good, faithful, and has THE plan.

Chris Canote
Outreach Director
Missions Mobilizer/Recruiter

YUGO Ministries
http://www.yugo.org
http://www.thecanotefamily.com
http://twitter.com/canotechris
http://twitter.com/YUGOMinistries

573/874-1878 Home
573/808-1195 Cell